


Only Women

by Spooky_Spooks



Category: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016), Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fantasy, Gen, Identity, Introspection, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Nonbinary Character, Self-Discovery, Transgender, ymbrynes - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 05:44:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19761796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spooky_Spooks/pseuds/Spooky_Spooks
Summary: "Only women are born ymbrynes."Something about that phrase had always seemed wrong. This was odd for a number of reasons. The first of which being, that in her long years of life, Miss Bleeding-Heart had never heard of it being false. The second reason and the reason Miss Bleeding-Heart was having the most difficult time understanding was that it made her deeply uncomfortable for no reason she could formulate and had for as long as she had been an ymbryne.





	Only Women

_"Only women are born ymbrynes."_

Something about that phrase had always seemed wrong. This was odd for a number of reasons. The first of which being, that in her long years of life, Miss Bleeding-Heart had never heard of it being false. The second reason and the reason Miss Bleeding-Heart was having the most difficult time understanding was that it made her deeply uncomfortable for no reason she could formulate and had for as long as she had been an ymbryne.

Loretta had first heard the phrase as a child, after being taken under the wing of Miss Avocet, but long before becoming known as Miss Bleeding-Heart. Things had been much simpler back then when she was too young to understand what it meant to have the title of 'ymbryne' or even 'woman'. She remembered the confusion she had faced that day, unable to understand why only women could be ymbrynes. Why couldn't there be a boy ymbryne? Try as she might, she could find no answers. Eventually, seeing the disapproving looks it got her, she stopped asking. 

She forced down her discomfort and made herself become the ymbryne she was told she had to be. She wore what was appropriate for a woman of her era, though she longed to wear trousers. She cooked and cleaned, focused on domestic work, despite her desires to explore and try more 'masculine' professions. Then, as the need arose, she was responsible for the care of several charges. Thankfully, they were able to survive the war without a need for a loop, however, this soon came to an end. 

When hollows began to swarm their home, Miss Bleeding-Heart was forced to make a loop in the mid-1950s for the protection of her wards. Despite not wanting to be an ymbryne, nor desiring to raise children, she did come to care deeply for her charges and feared the possibility that they may be hurt or killed more than anything. She was deeply thankful for Abe Portman's help in ridding the hollows from the area surrounding her home. Now that she no longer had to focus on merely making it through another day, Miss Bleeding-heart began to focus on making sure her wards were happy and felt comfortable being themselves. If one of the girls in her care wanted to wear pants, she let them and was even known to wear them herself. If one of her male wards wanted to wear a skirt or a blouse, she let them. After all, what harm could it do if it made the children happy? Sure, others looked at them strangely, but it didn't matter as long as they were comfortable with themselves. 

Despite this little bubble of happiness, Miss Bleeding-Heart still found herself lingering in uncertainty. She knew she didn't like the children calling her Miss, but how else were they supposed to address her? She knew she didn't like the name Loretta either, but it wasn't like she could just change her name, not without confusing the children. So once again, she stuffed it down and pretended to be content with what she considered to be her false identity. That is until she worked up the courage to venture out of the loop for brief moments, claiming she was ensuring the hollows had not returned. 

She was fascinated by the way things outside of her loop had progressed. Sometimes, when she felt she could get away with it, she would bring small, harmless things back for her wards to marvel at. One day, however, in the 1970s, she was able to bring back something for herself. It was nothing significant, only a small magazine that seemed to be hidden away from sight, but it changed her life. Her usual magazines contained women's fashion and adverts for vacuum cleaners and other household products. While this magazine* mostly featured various struggles of being a single parent, it also contained a gender-neutral title. 'Mx.' in the place of 'Mr.', 'Miss' or 'Mrs.'. While the authour intended it as a title meant to be shared by both sexes, Miss Bleeding-Heart thought it worked best for those who preferred neither of those labels. Those like herself.

After the discovery of the magazine, her life began to change. Even though the children never addressed her with it, she changed her name. Loren sounded much more comfortable than Loretta, and wherever she was able to, she replaced Loretta. She managed to work up the courage to change from 'Miss Bleeding-Heart' to 'Mx. Bleeding-Heart', and her children accepted the change with relative ease. Before long, 'she' changed to 'they' and though her children did slip up from time to time, they tried their best and really, that was all that mattered. 

So what if the outside world didn't accept them? So what if the ymbryne council didn't accept her? Her family did, and that was all that mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> *The Single Parent, 1977 - https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=IgwdAQAAMAAJ&dq=editions%3ALCCNsc83001271&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Mx
> 
> So, when I first read the phrase 'only women can be ymbrynes', it kinda struck a chord with me. Do they mean women as in those who identify that way, or was it meant to mean only females could be ymbrynes? I thought it would be a fun idea to play with, especially considering the various roles of peculiars as well as the interesting course of LGBTQ+ history. 
> 
> Anyway, I thought it would be an interesting story. For now it's complete, but I might add more if I feel like it or if someone wants me too. I hope you enjoyed it!


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